


we're never done with killing time (can i kill it with you?)

by strawberrytozaki



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Fluff, like 12k words of pure fluff, misana are very soft, side namo, they treat chaetzu like babies, told in flashbacks kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrytozaki/pseuds/strawberrytozaki
Summary: the story of sana and mina, told by sana and mina (with help from nayeon)
Relationships: Minatozaki Sana/Myoui Mina
Comments: 19
Kudos: 194





	we're never done with killing time (can i kill it with you?)

**Author's Note:**

> this is told in flashbacks and i wasn't sure how to go about that because i hate italics sooo: [...] starts and ends flashbacks while "-----" indicates time breaks within flashbacks themselves, i hope it isn't too confusing!

When Minatozaki Sana loves someone, she loves _loud_. There is no doubt about who she holds nearest and dearest to her heart; it’s something she parades around like her biggest pride and joy because it is, really. She thinks love is quite literally the most beautiful thing in existence and takes every opportunity to show that to the world. This explains why she’s always been known for being an extravagant partner. With over-the-top prom-posals, nighttime picnic dates under the stars, recruiting an entire cheer squad to make a statement on an anniversary; all of her ex-girlfriends can attest to that. The ones that stayed friends with her because Sana was always the one being broken up with, and her love for people never fizzled out and died, not completely, and she could forgive them for unloving her after a few nights of tears.

It’s heartbreaking, a little bit, that the one who loves the hardest has the most difficulty finding someone to love her back.

But it’s different now. Now she has Mina. Sweet, thoughtful Mina who spoke few more than ten words to her in the first week that they met. Mina, who always blushed furiously when Sana would flirt with her unabashedly, who never flirted back. It’s a tale Sana _loves_ to recount to anyone who’ll listen; the way Sana believed Mina may have hated her but continued to pursue her anyway because some part of her just _knew._ Mina always holds her hands and huffs indignantly as Sana teases her about the story that goes something like this;

[...]

Coming back to campus in the fall is a feeling Sana never ceases to look forward to. By the end of the spring semester, the excitement of the campus is dulled down to dread by the stress of her undergraduate workload, but the summer feels like a fresh start, like a new cycle has begun as she eagerly awaits the day she can walk amongst the people that are just like her; overtired, underfed college students.

The start to her third year is much different than the first two, she decides almost immediately. For one, her and her roommate of two years, Im Nayeon, had decided to rent an apartment together just off campus instead of opting for another year of dorm-living. It’s exciting and a little bit nerve-wracking because she feels much more like an adult than ever before and she figures that almost-twenty is as good an age as any to start growing up. They decorate together, make a day out of going to different stores and buying all types of unnecessary things that girls their age _need_ in their little apartment for two. Sana thinks it sets precedent for their year and she’s buzzing with excitement as she tells Nayeon all about how fun it’s going to be living in a _real apartment_ and Nayeon listens, because she always does.

Sana loves Nayeon, loved her too much for her own good once upon a time and thought Nayeon loved Sana too. She did— _does_ —just not in the way Sana had hoped; but Nayeon is Nayeon, a golden girl with a heart too big, and she simply hugged Sana until she moved on and they both think it made their relationship stronger, if anything. It was then that Sana knew she had found a friend for life in Nayeon, someone who wouldn’t run away when things weren’t pretty, and that feeling hadn’t wavered since.

“Guess what,” Nayeon sings as she drops her backpack on the couch and sits unceremoniously atop Sana, who is curled under three blankets and scrolling on her phone. Sana hums in acknowledgement, still skimming through her Instagram feed when Nayeon sighs and plucks the thing from her hands. “You remember Hirai Momo, right?”

Sana pouts at the rude interruption before the words register and she nods, turning to lay on her back and look up at Nayeon. “The pretty girl from your accounting course last year?” Nayeon nods in response and the smirk that lights up her face can only be described as devilish.

“She moved into the same building as us, I just bumped into her downstairs. She said she’s throwing a housewarming party before the semester starts and invited us.” The older girl tries to play it cool, but there’s excitement dancing in her eyes and Sana can’t help but giggle.

“Ready to shoot your shot, Nayeonnie?” She teases, coos at the way Nayeon’s cheeks flush as she rolls her eyes.

“Ready to get drunk, you mean,” Nayeon groans as she throws herself to the side to flop between Sana and the back of the couch. “I am _not_ ready for the semester to start.” Sana pats her head soothingly and hums in agreement.

\-----

Sana has always loved parties. She loved them as a child, when kids would dress up as Disney princesses or rent bouncy castles or have a day at a park as she sipped on a juice box, and she loved them as she got older and the music changed to songs filled with bass and the crowd became a sea of red solo cups instead of juice boxes and everyone was much more unabashed because of the big kid juice in their cups. She loves the way parties make people feel freer, more loving; she’s seen at least three couples get together in real-time at parties and she’s always thought it was a beautiful thing.

Mostly, Sana loves parties because she loves to dance. She loves to feel the music and the alcohol mingle in her veins as she lets her body flow with the air around her, and she loves that Nayeon is always by her side. They’re careful tonight, though, because Nayeon is on an unofficial mission and Sana doesn’t need Momo to think her best friend is taken. So, they keep a respectable distance compared to their usual routine of melding their bodies so close together that no one could tell where Sana ended and Nayeon began. It works well, and surprisingly quickly, because Momo makes her way to Nayeon and asks where she learned to move like that, and Sana turns to leave before she’s forced to hear whatever gross thing Nayeon would reply with. Her best friend would tell her all about it later, anyway.

She makes her way to the kitchen because the room is beginning to tilt on its axis and Sana figures she could use a glass of water. She bumps into a few people on the way, Park Sooyoung from modern lit, Kim Yerim from intro to psychology, Jung Eunbi _also_ from intro to psychology. It’s when she gets to the kitchen that someone really catches her eye. There’s a girl getting water from the water cooler, dressed in what is definitely _not_ party attire, resembling pajamas more than anything. _She’s pretty_ is Sana’s immediate thought as she scans the girl’s face. There are moles dotted on her skin that are placed so perfectly Sana wonders if the universe didn’t place them with a purpose, wonders if she could trace them back to the constellations she loves to admire. The girl looks mildly annoyed as she caps her water bottle and shuffles through the crowd that barely notices her in their drunken haze. Sana thinks to follow her for a moment, because she’s drunk and the girl is pretty and Sana _loves_ pretty girls, but just as soon as she takes a step forward, Kim Dahyun is stepping in front of her to chat and Sana forgets all about constellation-girl.

She doesn’t break away from the cute girl that she had met in their shared calculus class until her bladder becomes too heavy to handle. She’s lost count of the number of drinks she’s consumed, lost track of time in the hazy dimension of Hirai Momo’s apartment, and as she stumbles through the hall, she realizes she’s lost memory of where the bathroom is. So, of course, she does what any sensible drunk person does and closes her eyes and follows her heart. Her hand collides with the knob of the second door on the right and when she gingerly pushes it open, her heart skips a beat.

“Constellation-girl?” She whispers in awe, the girl’s head snaps toward the door from where she’s sitting at her desk, playing some game on her computer than Sana vaguely recognizes as _Minecraft_. Then she quickly realizes she’s just barged into someone’s bedroom uninvited and she squeaks out: “I’m so sorry, I was looking for the bathroom.” The girl’s annoyance seems to vanish as she looks at Sana curiously, small smile threatening to curve her lips upwards.

“Across the hall.” And Sana isn’t sure if it’s the alcohol or this girl’s voice making her dizzy anymore.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry again,” she says, watching as the girl shrugs and turns around in her seat. Sana smacks her forehead as she leaves the room. _Stupid._

\-----

“Nayeon, she was _gorgeous_ ,” Sana whines as she bounces in her spot on Nayeon’s bed. Her roommate is very much hungover, very much trying to ignore Sana’s incessant chattering as she buries her face even deeper into her pillow.

“You saw her for like, three seconds,” she groans.

“Three seconds is enough. You would know if you had seen her.”

“Well, you know where she lives,” Nayeon jests, turning her head to smile cheekily up at Sana who only pushes her face away.

“I’m not going to show up at her doorstep like, _hey, remember me from last night? The drunk girl that barged into your bedroom like a complete idiot?”_ Nayeon’s loud cackles fill the room as Sana huffs and pouts and crosses her arms like a child. “You’re no help.”

“Look,” Nayeon says as she finally sits up.

“You look like shit,” Sana interrupts with a sly grin. “Sorry, continue.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Nayeon growls. “You live in the same building as her, I am seducing her roommate, you’re bound to cross paths sooner or later.”

“ _Seducing_ , really?” Sana asks with an amused laugh. Nayeon sits up straighter and positively beams.

“Absolutely. Hirai Momo will be mine by the end of the semester, and that’s the Im Nayeon guarantee.” Nayeon shrugs and Sana doesn’t know what else to do but push her over because her best friend is _such an idiot_. “All you do is hate on me,” Nayeon whines, buried under the blankets that Sana is in the process of tucking around her.

“Not true! I will be nursing you through your hangover today. Pancakes or French toast?”

There’s a childish gleam in Nayeon’s eyes as she answers, “why not both?” and Sana smacks her stomach through the thick blanket. She comes back with both in hand and the squeal Nayeon lets out makes it worth it.

\-----

It turns out, Sana sees constellation-girl sooner rather than later. Sooner as in the next day in her 8A.M. lecture for cognitive psych, when she has no makeup on and is wearing sweatpants and a hoodie because she woke up late and Sana sighs. The universe is conspiring against her, she decides.

She’s an optimist though, always has been, so she settles down into the seat next to constellation-girl anyway and figures she’s still decently hot with no makeup and she can look past the fact that this girl looks like a runway model at eight in the morning. Really, it’s not an exaggeration, Sana feels her heart do jumping jacks in her chest as she sees the girl’s face in better lighting and she thinks she must be a direct descendant of Aphrodite, maybe. Sana peeks to the side and notices that constellation-girl is already typing away on her laptop and wonders what the hell she could already be taking notes on for the first day.

“Hi,” she speaks before she can stop herself. _Okay, this is happening_ , she thinks in a moment of panic. “You’re Momo’s roommate, right? I don’t think we’ve met before, I’m Sana.”

Constellation-girl turns her head, their eyes meet, and time stops. Sana’s never been keen on the whole _love-at-first-sight_ thing, always thought that you needed to know someone to some extent before you could truly love them, but here, now, as she looks at the girl with constellations on her skin and galaxies in her eyes, Sana thinks she might be changing her mind.

She feels small under the girl’s gaze. Not in the sense that the girl is intimidating, or makes her feel inferior, not at all. No, she simply looks… _curious._ So much so, that Sana feels the desire to shrink herself down and allow herself to sit in the other girl’s palm so she can find whatever it is she’s looking for.

She barely registers the girl’s next words—or, _word_ , singular— because she’s too busy watching her lips curve into the faintest hint of a smile, following their movement as she sees them form a word that almost passes right over her head. Then, she hears it. A soft, gentle, angelic voice saying, “Mina,” in a tone so sweet and soothing that Sana thinks it puts honey to shame.

She doesn’t get the chance to reply, opens her mouth to say something that would probably embarrass herself in her half-dazed state before she’s interrupted by the professor waltzing in and starting the lecture. Part of her wants to stand up and stop the class, say _I’m in the middle of something!_ and ask Mina on a date right then and there. She doesn’t, of course. She sits and waits for class to be over, stealing glances at Mina every so often and willing time to tick faster, just for today.

By the time the professor dismisses them and Sana finishes packing her things away, Mina is through the lecture hall doors and out of sight. She lets out a loud, childish whine that draws the attention of a few students as she glares at the ceiling.

\-----

The next time Sana runs into Mina—well, it’s quite literal. She’s in a rush to throw her laundry into the machine in the building’s laundry room before the commercial break for her drama ends, flying down the stairs so fast that she doesn’t see the small figure exiting the room. She doesn’t register that she’s crashed into something until she begins to feel the pain creeping up on her as she lays on her back on the floor.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” She hears a shrill voice ask from next to her. She turns her head slowly and her heart stutters in her chest as she sees constellations in the middle of the day.

“Hmm,” Sana groans slightly. “Hi. It looks like I keep falling for you.” Before she can regret the embarrassing statement, she hears angels laughing, thinks she can see more stars than the ones on Mina’s face and she winces at the bright light above her. 

“Here,” Mina says quietly, moving to help Sana sit upright. It’s only then that Sana realizes how horribly embarrassing this situation is and she feels her face flush completely red under Mina’s gaze.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” she mumbles, rubbing the back of her head where it hurts.

“You remember that?” Mina asks, amused smile painting her lips once more. “I figured you were too wasted to remember.”

“Excuse me,” Sana gasps in offence. “I do _not_ blackout. That’s for gross boys that do keg stands and smell like cigarettes. Not my style.” Sana thinks she might faint if Mina keeps looking at her like that. Not that she’s looking at her in any particular way, she’s _just_ looking at her, and Sana feels like she might pass out from it, maybe. She’s always been one for dramatics.

“Right, your style is intruding in a stranger’s bedroom and then flying into said stranger’s basket of clean laundry.” There’s no malice in Mina’s tone, just light teasing that makes Sana’s stomach flip and she winces in embarrassment.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. The bedroom thing especially, I should’ve knocked,” she admits with a sigh.

Mina observes her for a moment before shrugging that same shrug from all those nights ago. “No worries. Are you okay, though? No concussion?”

“I think I’ve fallen so many times that my skull has grown a second skull to protect it.”

Mina laughs and Sana feels faint.

“Good to know. I’ll see you around, Sana.” And with that, Mina is gone again, and Sana is left to wallow in self-pity as she loses another chance at asking her out. _And_ she must be missing the ending to the episode of her drama. _Two for two,_ she thinks bitterly. Then she remembers Mina’s laugh, and her sticky sweet voice like honey, and she finds herself humming a tune as she puts her laundry in.

\-----

“So, let me get this straight,” Nayeon mumbles into her thick scarf as she walks through campus with Sana, ignoring the childish snort her friend lets out. “You went to Mina’s apartment to ask _Momo_ for her coffee order? When Mina lives there as well, and you could’ve just asked her out when you knew she would be home?” Sana mulls over the words for a moment before nodding.

“Yup.”

“I’ll never understand how you get girls.”

Sana rolls her eyes as she slows down in front of her lecture hall and waves goodbye to her friend. Today _will_ be the day that she gets a date with Mina.

She sees her sitting in the same spot as last time, dressed more casually which does little to calm Sana’s suddenly erratic heartbeat. _God, she really is gorgeous,_ she thinks. She settles down next to her and ignores the pang of disappointment when Mina doesn’t spare her a glance.

“Hi,” she starts. Mina looks at her and then Sana kind of, maybe wishes she didn’t, because any coherent thought goes right out the window. “I- um,” she pauses. “I got this for you. A-as an apology! For knocking over your laundry.” She resists the urge to physically face palm ass he finishes making a fool out of herself for the nth time in front of Mina. The girl in question looks at Sana, then down to the coffee in her hand, and back a few times before surprise seeps into her features.

She lets out a little _oh!_ and then mumbles, “thank you,” in her quiet, honey voice that drips into her cup and Sana wonders if she should’ve gotten less sugar.

Once again, Sana is _rudely_ interrupted by their professor and, once again, Mina disappears into the wind as soon as class is dismissed.

\-----

“Don’t you think there’s a possibility that she doesn’t want you asking her out?” Sana glares across the table at a smug-looking Yoo Jeongyeon. “Ow!” Jeongyeon yelps when Nayeon smacks her across the arm. “I was just saying! Maybe waltzing into class with a bouquet of flowers isn’t the best idea.”

“You’re just mad that no one’s ever bought you flowers,” Nayeon says as she sticks her tongue out, squealing when Jeongyeon lurches forward to pretend to catch it. “And this is why! You’re disgusting.”

Sana rolls her eyes at her two friends and looks down at the flowers in her hand. It’s hardly a _bouquet_ , because roses are expensive and she could only afford about five, but she figures that’s enough to get her point across, anyway. The point being that she wants to take Mina out, for one date, or two, or five, if she’s lucky. When she looks up, Nayeon and Jeongyeon are still engaged in their back-and-forth bickering that never really ends.

“Okay,” she says finally, “I’m going now, bye-bye.”

They barely register it, because Nayeon is too busy dodging a wet willy from Jeongyeon, but they shout out a faint _good luck_ after her and it gives her a little pep to her step. She can do this.

Sana’s never been a very lucky person, per say. But she’s never been quite as unlucky as she is today.

First, there’s construction on this side of campus and she needs to make a detour all the way around just to get to her lecture hall. Then, there’s a group of high school seniors touring campus that block the entrance to the building and, as if all of that isn’t enough, just as Sana is about to enter the room, she’s stopped by a half-deaf, old lady asking for directions.

She gets to class ten minutes late and Professor Cockblock (as Sana dubbed him) is already mid-lecture when she sheepishly enters with a handful of roses. Mina glances at her for a moment so fleeting that Sana thinks she imagined the curious look on her face. She resigns herself to waiting until the end of lecture to take her chance, setting the roses down on the table of the empty seat next to her until then.

She’s quick today, quicker than Mina, even. She throws her things haphazardly and stands up before Mina even finishes putting her laptop away and she fidgets as she waits impatiently.

“Hi,” she greets shyly when Mina finally finishes. “Um, these are for you.” It’s not as eloquent as she was hoping, but Mina still smiles softly and Sana thinks it’s the small victories that count.

“Thank you,” Mina says as she tilts her head down just so. Sana sees the confusion on her face and opens her mouth to explain when Mina catches sight of her phone and the confusion is replaced with panic. “I’m sorry,” she apologizes quickly. “I’m going to be late for my next class, I really have to go, but thank you, again, for the flowers. They’re lovely. I’ll see you around!” Mina calls over her shoulder before she disappears yet again and Sana groans in frustration, feels a whine bubbling up before she can stop it.

Mina is going to be the death of her.

\-----

“You’re still going after her?” Nayeon asks through a mouthful of toothpaste. Sana is laying on the couch with an arm thrown dramatically over her face and she groans in response.

“I think I’m in love with her.”

“You don’t even know her,” Nayeon laughs.

“Well, I think I could fall in love with her.”

“She has yet to give you the time of day, why are you so insistent?”

“I don’t know,” Sana sighs as she sits up with her legs dangling over the arm of the couch. “There’s just something about her, Nayeonnie. I can’t explain it.”

Nayeon scans her face for a moment and sighs before rinsing her mouth and pulling Sana into a hug. “Alright, Romeo, you’ve been going about this all wrong. Here’s what you’re going to do…”

\-----

The next time Sana enters her cognitive psychology lecture, she’s whistling and fiddling with the straps on her backpack, lazy grin on her face. She takes her seat next to Mina and smiles at the girl in greeting, ignoring the butterflies when Mina smiles back. When the professor begins to wrap up, Sana pulls a slip of paper out of her notebook and scribbles a few words on it before sliding it onto Mina’s table. She packs up and leaves the lecture hall without glancing back, suppressing the urge to giggle uncontrollably at the extremely childish thing she just did.

And the next week, when the professor starts his ending notes, Mina slides the same paper back over to Sana, eyes fixed on the front of the room, but her cheeks are tinted pink and Sana thinks it suits her.

Mina’s gone before she unfolds the paper, so she doesn’t try to hold back the loud squeal she lets out as she scans her eyes over the words.

_I like you. Do you like me?_

_~~Yes <3~~ _

_No :(_

The answer is followed by Mina’s phone number and a cute penguin drawing in the corner and Sana thinks she could die, maybe.

[…]

“So, all it took was a little note?” Chaeyoung asks with wonder in her eyes, the way she always does when Sana tells the story of how her and Mina got together. They’re gathered at the Im-Hirai’s for their monthly get together, which happens to fall on Sana and Mina’s fifth anniversary, and all seven of their friends are lounging around asking them questions about their relationship. It fills something warm and gentle in both girls, as they think back to the early days of their relationship, when they were young and shy and oblivious to the inner workings of each other.

“Mina is a simple woman,” Sana shrugs, tucking a stray hair behind her girlfriend’s ear lovingly. Mina rolls her eyes half-heartedly but doesn’t stop herself from leaning into the touch.

“I didn’t think you were seriously trying to ask me out before that,” she argues weakly. Sana beams and presses a kiss to her forehead.

“I bought you roses, honey, that’s as romantic as it gets.” The room is filled with gentle giggles as Mina flushes red.

“Whatever,” she mumbles, nuzzling closer to her girlfriend.

“What was your first date like?” Tzuyu asks, because she didn’t know the girls then, and part of her had always been curious about the golden couple of their friend group, (but don’t let Nayeon and Momo hear you call them that.)

Sana almost asks Mina if she’d like to take the reins, but she sees her girlfriend comfortably melted against her side, eyes lidded and droopy as she looks at Sana expectantly, and figures she can tell one more story about the love of her life.

“Well, I had a plan, you see…”

[…]

Sana thinks she’s managed to plan the perfect date for her and Mina this weekend. She’s never been very organized, tending to go with the flow more than planning ahead and following guidelines. But this isn’t just about her, this is about her and Mina, and making a good impression to ensure this isn’t the last date they share. They’ve been texting for a week now, and Sana thinks she knows enough about Mina to know that she’ll enjoy the date she has planned out; going to a fancy dinner before a surprise trip to an arcade that Sana found not too far away from campus. It was the perfect balance of elegant and youthful that Sana has witnessed in Mina and she thinks it’ll be great, because _Mina_ is great.

She has to borrow Jeongyeon’s car, because her own is back home in Japan and Nayeon can’t drive, and now she’s in an undetermined amount of debt with her friend, but it’s okay because Mina is worth whatever stupid favour Jeongyeon will cash in with her.

It’s still ten minutes to seven when Sana parks the car in front of their apartment complex. She waits a respectable five minutes, drumming her fingers along the steering wheel impatiently the whole time, before getting out and going up to knock on Mina’s door. She doesn’t think anything could’ve prepared her for what she was about to see, though. Her heart shoots up to her throat as she takes in Mina’s appearance, visibly gulping to try and push it back to its place in her chest.

If she thought Mina looked like a model on the first day of class, today she looks like a goddess.

“Hi,” Sana drawls stupidly before snapping her mouth shut and standing up straight. “I mean, um- hi. You look beautiful,” she says, a little breathless and a little flushed and Mina’s soft giggle does nothing to help her case.

“Thank you. You’re stunning.” And, _god_ , Mina really would be the death of her.

Sana is quick to lead her down to the car and take a few deep breaths before setting off to their first destination. It’s a short drive, really, but it would’ve taken much too long on foot and she refused to make Mina walk any length of time in heels.

This is where it starts to go wrong.

“What do you mean there’s no reservation under _Minatozaki_?” Sana asks with a growl beneath her words. The stupid host just looks at her, bored and idiotic and, did she mention _stupid_?

“I mean what I said, ma’am, there is no reservation for a Minatozaki. But, you’re more than welcome to wait as a walk-in. Approximated wait time is two hours.”

Sana is about to rip this guy a new one when she feels a soft hand wrap around her wrist and her eyes meet Mina’s. “It’s okay, Sana,” she promises. Sana sighs and turns around, not before shooting one last withering glare at the man behind the podium.

“I’m sorry,” Sana groans. “This must’ve been the worst first date ever.” Sana is too busy looking dejectedly at the ground to see Mina’s amused smile.

“Is it over already?” And when Sana looks up, Mina is pouting, _pouting!_

“Well…” she trails off, something behind Mina catching her attention. “No! I have an idea, if you’re up for it.”

And that’s how they find themselves sprawled out on a blanket that Jeongyeon kept in her car, in a park, surrounded by food from the nearby convenience store. It’s not a fancy, expensive dinner, but as she listens to Mina talk about how much she _loves_ the sushi from a convenience store by her house back in Japan, Sana finds that she can’t seem to care. She feels something light bubble up in her chest as she listens to the other girl speak about anything and everything. Her sticky, sweet honey tone drips into Sana’s heart and she feels greedy tonight. So, they start to walk.

“You know,” Mina starts as they walk along the riverside, “I thought it might’ve been some sort of bet, or a dare.”

“Hm,” Sana hums thoughtfully. “What might’ve been?”

“You trying to get my attention.”

Sana’s not sure when they started holding hands, but she swings their locked fingers between them like it’s second nature.

“Why’s that?” It feels peaceful, serene, it’s the only way she can describe it, really. Being with Mina just feels… _right_.

“The things you did, I didn’t think it could be real. I’ve only ever heard of stuff like that happening in movies,” Mina says wistfully, meeting Sana’s gaze. “I figured it couldn’t be genuine, that there’s no way someone would go through all that trouble just for me,” she shrugs. If she notices the way Sana grips her hand tighter, she doesn’t mention it.

“I would.” She’s not trying to convince Mina, doesn’t need to beg her to believe her, because it doesn’t matter if Mina believes it or not. Sana is just letting it be known. “And I will,” she adds, “if you let me.”

Mina looks at her for a long moment, and Sana finds herself feeling the same way she did on the first day of class. She wants to shrink herself into more digestible pieces, let Mina take whatever information she needs from her, see that there are no hidden motives behind her words and actions. She wants Mina to trust her.

“And now?” She finds herself asking. Mina hums, asking for clarification and now she’s the one swinging their hands. “Do you still think I’m ingenuine?”

Mina stops walking suddenly, her hold on Sana’s hand forcing the taller girl to stop too. Mina looks at Sana with something so fierce in her eyes, so different from the gentle, docile look that Sana has come to associate with Mina.

“Sana, I don’t think you have an ingenuine bone in your body. I think your heart is too big for your own good and I want you to know that I don’t intend on taking advantage of that.”

Sana feels so overwhelmed by the raw honesty in Mina’s honey voice that she can’t stop herself before she leans in to kiss her. She only grows bolder as Mina melts into her embrace, and maybe it should be embarrassing that they’re kissing so openly in the middle of a park, but it’s late, and there’s no one around, and Sana’s never had a problem with PDA, anyway.

“I think I should let you know; we still have an arcade to get to before the night is over.” And Sana can’t find it anywhere inside of her to feel disappointed when Mina pulls away from her and drags her to the car, because her carefree laugh fills the night sky like fireflies that Sana wants to capture in a jar and preserve for eternity.

[…]

“That’s so sweet,” Dahyun whispers in awe. She says it more to the couple that are looking at each other with love that hasn’t wavered in five years than to the story, but she figures the message is conveyed all the same. Mina breaks her staring contest with Sana to giggle.

“Sweet until I kicked Sana’s ass at air hockey three times in a row and had to lose on purpose just so she would stop pouting.”

“Yah! Minari, I won that match fair and square,” Sana whines.

“Mhm,” Mina nods emphatically. “You made the puck move around my hand with your raw talent.”

“Exactly,” Sana puffs out her chest, breaking the façade only when Mina starts to giggle at her.

“You two make me sick,” Nayeon groans as she lifts her head from Momo’s lap. “Let me tell you all about the time Mina passed the best friend test,” she offers with a devilish grin, sitting up and fully getting into story-telling mode.

“Oh god,” Mina groans, hiding her face in Sana’s shoulder.

“So, one day…”

[…]

No one is surprised when Sana begins bouncing off the walls and shouting from the rooftops that Mina is her girlfriend. Nayeon is the least surprised of them all, partially because she’s been referring to Mina as _the girlfriend_ since their first date, but mostly because she was the one to urge Sana to finally make it official. However, the lack of surprise does not relieve her of her best friend duties.

“Where are you going?” Sana asks, watching her move around through the bathroom mirror as she ties her own hair up into a ponytail. Nayeon doesn’t pause to look at her when she answers.

“I’m going out with Mina.”

“ _What?_ ” Sana shrieks. “Alone? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What, scared I’ll steal your girlfriend, Tozaki?” She asks good-humouredly.

“ _No_ ,” Sana huffs. “I’m scared you’ll scare her off.” She crosses her arms and Nayeon almost laughs at how much she resembles a toddler.

“Don’t get your panties in a knot,” she sighs. “We’re just going shopping.” When Sana doesn’t relax, Nayeon softens her expression and lets out a breath. “Look, I’m sure Mina is great, but you’re, like, the best person on Earth. And you trust too easily, I just want to see what she’s like.”

Sana’s arms drop to her side as she pouts at her roommate. “Aw, Nayeonnie, you love me!” She squeals, wrapping Nayeon in a bear hug.

“Yeah, yeah, I love you, now get to class.”

“Be nice to Mina!” Sana calls over her shoulder.

“I will be, god!”

\-----

“Do you think this makes me look oddly proportioned?” Nayeon sighs as she straightens the dress out and turns her body around in the mirror. Mina pops her head out from her dressing room and laughs, _laughs!_ (Nayeon decides she likes her.)

“You look great, actually,” Mina says casually before slipping back into her room. They’ve been at the mall for just over an hour now, and Nayeon is pleased to say that Mina is passing the best friend test with flying colours. She hasn’t made any off-handed remarks about any of the weird things Sana likes, not even her scent-collecting hobby! She’s polite to employees, gave up her seat on the bus for an elderly lady, and she’s surprisingly funny for someone that looks so quiet. Plus, she gives compliments like it’s second nature and that’s always a point in Nayeon’s book. And, _okay_ , maybe her list is a little over the top, but Nayeon knows Sana, knows that her best friend has too much love to give to the wrong people and she’s seen it happen more than once. But this time feels different, _Mina_ feels different. It puts Nayeon at ease. “Are you getting it?” Mina asks as she steps back out in her regular clothes.

“I don’t know,” she sighs. “What do you think?”

“I think…” Mina hums. “If you’re having second thoughts, we can go check out a few more places and circle back if you’re still thinking about this one.”

“I like the way you think, Myoui.”

It’s not until they’re in the last store of the day that Nayeon sets the final phase of her test into motion.

“So, you and Sana are finally official, huh?” She asks offhandedly as she skims through a rack of clothes. Mina nods from her spot across from her and Nayeon can see her gentle smile from here.

  
“Yeah, she asked me to be her girlfriend a few days ago.”

“Ah, was it some extravagant ordeal? Sana’s known for those,” she pushes. Mina only giggles.

“No, actually, I think she’s starting to understand that I don’t really know what to do with public displays of affection. She took me to the park where we had our first date and asked me there.” Nayeon watches the wistful smile on Mina’s face as she recalls the memory.

“That’s surprising,” she laughs, praises herself for her acting skills because _of course_ , she already knew every little detail of how it went down, she was the one to help Sana plan it. But Mina didn’t know that. “Did she tell you how she confessed her feelings for _me_?” Nayeon knew the answer, _yes_ , because Sana had told her after they talked about it, and she watches as Mina nods.

“I thought it was cute,” Mina laughs. She doesn’t look jealous or insecure and Nayeon adds another point to her perfect score.

“Yeah, you know Sana, she’s hopeless when it comes to love.” Nayeon watches from the corner of her eyes as Mina’s smile droops into her a frown, so she pushes harder. “I mean, she went to extreme lengths for _me_ and she didn’t even know if I liked her back.”

“She just has a lot of love to give,” Mina shoots back, voice firmer now. _Right answer_.

“I know, but I mean, c’mon,” Nayeon laughs. “There has to be limits, right? You can’t just decide you’re in love with someone and give them everything in hopes that they reciprocate—”

“Look, Nayeon,” Mina interrupts. Her voice is still soft, but there’s an edge to it that Nayeon has never heard before. “I understand that you’re her best friend, and I respect that, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t make comments like that about her, especially not when she isn’t here to defend herself,” Mina is looking right at Nayeon now. “It’s not her fault that she has a big heart. I think it’s beautiful, that she’s experienced so much heartbreak and still manages to find the strength to love without restraint.”

It’s quiet for a long moment, Mina’s gaze piercing Nayeon like daggers, before Nayeon laughs. She _laughs_ and laughs harder when she watches Mina’s hard expression contort into confusion. Nayeon rounds the clothing rack and pulls an unsuspecting Mina into a hug.

“You passed!” She squeals. Mina lets a soft _huh?_ escape her lips, confusion still lingering in the air that was previously charged with tension. “If you can stand up to her best friend to defend her, I trust that you’ll protect her from anyone,” Nayeon clarifies as she pats Mina’s head. “Welcome to the Im-Minatozaki family of two.”

Mina looks at her like she’s grown a second head for a moment, then two, then she’s laughing hysterically and Nayeon beams like a proud child. She decides she really likes this girl.

[…]

“Mina’s lucky,” Sana sighs once Nayeon finishes the story. “When Momo took me out for _the talk,_ she told me if I ever hurt Mina, she would break every bone in my body. And then she asked for the rest of my food!” She whines.

“I was hungry,” Momo shrugs. “And I paid the bill so why are you complaining.” Sana flips her off half-heartedly and Momo blows her a kiss in response.

“God, I was _so_ mad at you for that five minutes,” Mina directs at Nayeon when the other two are done bickering.

“Duh, I’m an amazing actress,” Nayeon shrugs like she can’t help it. “I needed to make sure that Sana’s gal pal could take care of her, if needed. And it was needed, if I recall correctly.”

Sana groans at the memory and tilts her head back like the thought would slide right off.

“What?” Jihyo asks as she hears Sana’s reaction. She had been too busy playing games on her phone, having already lived through these stories. “What happened?”

“Park Sooyoung,” Mina grumbles in response, and it seems to finally click as Jihyo winces at the memory.

Chaeyoung looks around at the oldest women in the room and whines. “Well, now you have to tell us! Who’s Sooyoung?” Chaeyoung may be only three years younger than Sana but she’s considered her to be her baby from the day they met, and that hasn’t changed despite the fact that she’s now twenty-two. Sana’s always been a sucker for her pout.

“Well…” She starts.

“Park Sooyoung was a conniving bitch,” Mina, surprisingly, cuts her off. Sana can’t hide her amusement as she leans back and watches her girlfriend explain the situation. “It wasn’t long after our first anniversary…”

[…]

There is only one thing in the world that Mina hates more than groupwork; Pre-determined groups for groupwork. And that’s exactly what she’s assigned to during her latest behavioural psychology lecture. The professor pairs them off and tells them that these are the duos in which they would be completing their final research assignment of the semester and Mina tries her hardest to keep her face as friendly as possible when Park Sooyoung walks over to exchange numbers once class is dismissed.

“Hi,” Sooyoung greets kindly, and Mina smiles as politely as possible, trying not to show that she’s in a rush to leave because she knows Sana is waiting for her with open arms and a bowl of ramen. “So, here’s my number. You can just call me Joy, by the way.”

Mina looks at the paper in her hands and lets out a quiet “ _cool_ ,” as Joy looks at her expectantly.

“We should probably get started soon, I kind of need a good grade on this assignment,” Joy says sheepishly.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll- uh, text you and we can figure out a day,” Mina offers. She hates how awkward she feels, wishes she could harness Sana’s extroverted abilities in moments like this. But Joy only gives her a bright smile and says, “see you later!” and then she’s gone before Mina can say much more.

Mina speed walks the entire way back to Sana’s apartment.

“Hey, baby,” Sana greets when Mina walks in. She steps away from the stove to give her girlfriend a peck on the forehead and smiles at her in the way that never fails to turn Mina’s stomach inside out. “Sorry, it’s almost done.”

“It’s okay,” she mumbles, busy putting Joy’s number in her phone and sending her a text so her partner would have her own number as well. She smiles when she feels Sana’s arms wrap around her waist from behind and lets herself melt into the embrace.

“How was class?” Sana murmurs into her hair, leaving a gentle kiss afterward.

Mina hums. “Boring. We got paired up for our final project. Why couldn’t you have taken this class with me?” She whines as she turns around to hug her girlfriend properly.

“I already took that course, baby,” Sana laughs against the crown of her head as she sways them side to side and it sends pleasant tingles down Mina’s spine.

“I know,” she sighs, looking up and pursing her lips dramatically until Sana presses her own against them. Mina hums and lets her head rest against Sana’s chest. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Let’s eat,” Sana offers, guiding Mina to sit atop the counter. “Who’s your partner? Do you know them?” She asks, blowing on the noodles between her chopsticks before lifting them up to Mina’s mouth for a bite. “Is it good? Spicy enough?” She asks absently.

“Yes, perfect,” Mina mumbles when she finishes chewing. “She’s Park Sooyoung. I’ve had a few classes with her,” she answers with a shrug.

“Oh, I know her!” Sana says excitedly. “I had a class with her in my second year. She’s nice!”

“I still don’t want to work with her,” Mina groans, but still opens her mouth as she silently asks for another bite. Sana laughs at her with so much fondness that Mina feels like she could burst.

“I know, grump.”

“I am not a grump!””

“Are too, grumpy.”

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

“Am—”

“Yah!” Nayeon’s voice rings out throughout the apartment as the front door shuts behind her. “What did I say about being cutesy in my house?”

“Are too,” Sana whispers in between bites and Mina can’t find it in her to be grumpy when her girlfriend is the personification of the sun.

\-----

Begrudgingly, Mina admits that it’s not so bad working with Joy. The girl can hold her weight, and has ideas that Mina actually likes, which is a stark contrast from any of her other groupmates in the past. They work well together, admittedly, and Mina’s not so worried about her grade anymore if she has someone as competent as Joy to work with.

Alas, she is still an introvert to the core, and whines incessantly whenever Sana forces her to get out of the comfortable blanket avalanche they create and into some clothes, so she won’t be late to meet her partner.

“You’re working against me,” Mina whines dramatically as Sana puts her fingers through each slot in her gloves.

“You’re being a baby,” Sana laughs, presses a kiss to Mina’s nose, fixes the hat she placed on her head.

“Is it so bad that I want to cuddle?” She pouts and Sana squishes her cheeks to prevent the affect it has on her from holding any weight.

“Not at all, but you need to do well on this assignment.” Sana kisses her nose again and Mina feels warmth spread to the tips of her gloved fingers and straight through to her toes. She sighs and smiles, smiles harder when Sana presses quick kisses all along her cheeks.

“You’re making it even harder for me to want to leave,” she argues.

“Sorry,” Sana giggles. “Okay, get going or you’ll be late. I love you.”

“Love you!” Mina calls over her shoulder as she locks the door behind her.

When she reaches the doors of the library, she snaps a quick selfie and sends it to Sana because it’s snowing heavily, and her girlfriend is always too worried about impossible dangers when it comes to Mina. She attaches it to a text that reads _got here safe and sound_ and tucks her phone back into her pocket before searching for the spot where she agreed to meet Joy. Her partner is already there when she arrives, occupied typing away on her laptop as Mina takes the seat across from her and greets her with a gentle, “hey,” that has Joy perking up immediately.

“Hi!” She says, and Mina is unsure if she’ll ever get used to her enthusiasm. “I got this for you, I hope I remembered it right,” she offers, pushing a paper coffee cup toward Mina.

“Oh, thank you,” is Mina’s surprised response. “Honestly, as long as it’s caffeine, I’ll find a way to enjoy it.” It’s not a joke, necessarily, because she really does mean it and she thinks everybody and their mothers must know about her caffeine addiction, but Joy still throws her head back in a laugh too loud and grating for a gentle library atmosphere and Mina winces.

“You’re funny,” her partner says with a twinkle in her eyes that makes Mina shift in her seat. “But, yes, I got an extra espresso shot.” The words are accompanied by a wink and Mina’s mouth opens in a small _‘o’_ shape because she’s not sure what else to say.

“Uh, so,” she starts, opening her laptop and shifting so Joy can see her screen. “This is what I’ve gotten done since last time.”

And then it goes back to normal, or, more normal, because Joy has always been too friendly for Mina’s comfort. She had complained about it to Sana after the first few weeks of working together, to which her girlfriend only hugged her tight and said, “maybe she just really wants to be your friend.” Mina isn’t sure if that’s the case, but Sana had been adamant that she didn’t allow it to ruin their assignment and Mina figured she were right anyway. She needs to do well on this, and she thinks Joy may be like Sana, with too much affection to give that she doesn’t know how to contain it all the time.

It’s not long until Joy shows her that she’s absolutely _nothing_ like Sana.

They decide they’ve done enough for the day as the sun disappears into darkness and Mina’s phone tells her it’s nearing 8p.m. She sends a text to Sana, letting her know she would be leaving soon and asking if they could get dinner because _god,_ she’s hungry. And this is when it goes to shit.

“So…” Joy starts. Mina’s too busy packing away her things to notice the way her partner taps on the table like a cat waiting to strike. “I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime,” _huh?_ “for dinner, maybe?” Mina looks up from her backpack to gauge the seriousness of Joy’s inquiry.

“Uh…” she trails off dumbly, not sure if Joy meant a _friendly_ dinner or… something else.

“I’ve been into you for a while, and I figured this assignment would be a good opportunity to get to know you.” And there’s her answer.

“I have a girlfriend,” Mina says, slow and confused. She doesn’t think she’s been quiet about it, really. Sana is her lock screen, and she’s fairly certain that Sana has dropped her off to class enough times for people to get the hint.

“Sana?” Joy asks incredulously. Something in her tone makes Mina stand up straighter. “You’re still with her?”

“Yes,” Mina says plainly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know,” Joy says with an accompanying laugh that sounds too intimidating for someone who was just rejected. “Most girls get bored of her after a couple months.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mina snaps. Her features have hardened into something completely different from her typically passive expression as she glares daggers at the girl across from her that traces patterns into the table lazily.

“I don’t know, Mina,” Joy shrugs. “Sana is kind of… childish.” She giggles airily and Mina cringes at the sound. “You could do better.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“That’s true, but I’d like to.”

“So, what, you being nice to me this whole time was to draw me away from my girlfriend and closer to you?” Mina growls. She’s never been a violent person, but the smug look on Joy’s face is making her reconsider.

“Well, I didn’t know you were still dating her, but if I had I think I would still pursue you. So, technically, yes.” Mina’s mouth opens and closes a few times at the nonchalance laced into Joy’s words. This is what someone looks like when they’re denied nothing in life, Mina thinks. “I’m sure Sana is great, but she’s too whimsical. You could have everything with me.” It’s only when Joy reaches out to skim her fingers along Mina’s arm that she snaps out of her confused trance.

“You will never be anything like Sana. You’re an entitled, self-centered, egotistical bitch that only cares about herself, clearly. And if loving to love people is considered childish, then I’d much rather be that than whatever _you_ are,” she spits out, venom dripping from her lips as Joy takes a step back. “I’ll never get ‘ _bored_ ’ of Sana, whatever the hell that means, because I’m in love with her, and no random girl will be able to waltz in and change that with a few compliments and a cup of coffee.” Joy looks shocked for a few moments, watching Mina take deep breaths to calm her anger. “Just do your parts of this stupid assignment and I’ll do mine. I don’t think we need to see each other again after this.”

“Whatever,” Joy mumbles, cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she brushes past Mina and moves toward the library exit.

“Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting that,” Mina hears a familiar voice from behind her. She whips around to see Sana with a confused smile on her face, wrapped up in a thick scarf, snowflakes still melting on her head.

“Sana…” Mina murmurs, moving forward to wrap her girlfriend in a hug. “Did you hear all that?”

“I heard enough,” Sana chuckles, swaying them slightly. “My knight in shining armour.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” and Mina isn’t even entirely sure why she feels the weight of tears behind her eyelids, but they threaten to spill over as Sana pulls back to look at her wildly,

“Sorry for what?” She asks with worry coming off of her in waves.

“I should’ve… I don’t know. I should’ve known it was leading up to this. I should’ve made it clearer that we were together. I should’ve been a better girlfriend,” she whimpers, and Sana only giggles fondly.

“Oh, honey,” she sighs, wiping the stray tears that drip from Mina’s eyes. “You are the best girlfriend in the history of girlfriends,” she promises. “You don’t need to be loud and obnoxious about our relationship for me to understand how much you cherish it, that’s my thing, not yours,” she teases gently. “And it’s not your fault that she put you in that position. If anything, it’s my fault for not listening when you told me she was acting strangely.”

“You didn’t know,” Mina mumbles as Sana pulls her into another embrace.

“Neither did you,” her girlfriend shoots back and Mina huffs. “I love you, so much.”

“I love you.”

“Besides, seeing you get all riled up like that was kind of hot.”

“ _Sana!_ ” Mina shrieks, smacking Sana’s arm half-heartedly.

“It’s true!” Sana squeals as she jumps away from the attack. “I can’t help that I’m attracted to you, Minari.” Mina only rolls her eyes at her girlfriend’s sugary sweet grin and pulls backpack over her shoulders.

“Why are you here, anyway?” Mina wonders aloud, hooking her fingers through Sana’s.

“I wanted to surprise you and pick you up for dinner,” Sana chuckles. “Dinner and a show, I suppose.”

“You’re insufferable.” But the fond smile on her face says that Mina doesn’t mean the words in the slightest. They’ll be okay, she thinks, watching Sana swing their hands and hum a tune as they walk through the snowy winter night.

[…]

“No way…” Chaeyoung gasps when Mina finishes the story with a huff. “What a bitch.”

“Right?” Mina shrieks. “I contemplated finishing the assignment on my own and not putting her name on her.”

“But _I,_ ” Sana interjects, “told her that her grades were more important than some stupid comments made by an irrelevant person.” Mina grumbles something under her breath that makes Sana smile at her.

“Yeah, yeah, Sana’s a saint, that bitch still deserved to get her ass handed to her,” Nayeon pipes up and Jihyo murmurs in agreement.

“I would’ve found a way to put hair removal cream in her shampoo if I didn’t know Sana would be upset with me for it,” Jeongyeon says from her spot on the floor with a sleeping Boo on her lap.

“You’re all insane,” Sana laughs gently. “It didn’t bother me much, anyway. I was more upset that she cornered Mitang like that,” she admits as she scratches her nails along Mina’s scalp gently. The rest of the girls in the room seem to shift the conversation, breaking into little groups to catch up on what they might’ve missed in the past month, but Sana is still looking at the sleepy Mina in her arms. She feels her heart pound too quickly to be healthy, something that happens quite often when she takes the time to slow down and let her eyes drag across every inch of her girlfriend’s beautiful face. “Wanna get out of here?” Sana murmurs in her ear. Mina’s droopy eyes look up at her in confusion before she checks the time on her phone and sees how late it is.

“Mhm,” she agrees easily, stretching out her limbs like a cat and making sure to playfully push her palm against Sana’s face in the process.

“Annoying,” Sana huffs. “Hey, guys, I think we’re going to head out now,” Sana announces as she gets on her feet, shivering at the loss of the blanket that had been tucked over both her and Mina. There’s a chorus of _goodbyes_ and _drive safe_ s that fill Sana with warmth as she hugs her closest friends and leads Mina to their car. “I wanted to stop somewhere, since we didn’t get to go out for our anniversary this year,” Sana proposes when Mina curls into the passenger seat. “If that’s okay with you.”

“Of course, baby,” Mina says through a half-yawn that makes Sana’s chest erupt with a fondness that she will never grow accustomed to. She laces their fingers together and smiles as Mina lets her eyes fall shut when Sana starts to drive. She always looks younger like this, Sana thinks. A childish innocence takes over Mina’s features when she’s asleep and there’s no stress weighing down the smile on her face. She’s beautiful all the time, truly, but there’s something angelic in the way the streetlights illuminate her slumbering face as they drive down barren roads that set Sana’s heart ablaze.

Mina’s eyes flutter open as Sana cuts the engine in a familiar parking lot, and the gentle smile that lights up her face makes Sana’s stomach do flips in its place. She gets out of the car and rushes to open Mina’s door for her, unbuckling her girlfriend’s seatbelt and holding her hand to help the sleepy girl balance.

“You’re such a sap,” Mina teases, leaning into Sana’s warmth as they walk through the park where they had their very first date.

“As if you don’t love it,” Sana jests back.

“Hmm… I love _you,_ ” Mina says happily, and Sana doesn’t think she’ll ever stop feeling like a lovestruck teenager whenever Mina says those three simple words.

“Do you remember the first time we said I love you?” She asks as they walk along the water. Mina whines in embarrassment and Sana laughs into the kiss she presses against her hair.

“Tell me about it,” she requests, if only because she loves hearing Sana’s voice, and a little bit because she’s too tired to contribute to a conversation right now.

“It started with an empty bed…”

[…]

Sana prides herself on her people skills. She has an innate ability to understand people’s actions and feelings that she thinks stems from the fact that she’s been friendly from the womb. It’s for this reason that she knows, without a doubt, that something is up with Mina.

It starts subtly, at first. With Mina telling her she can’t sleep over because she has a ton of assignments due with midterms fast approaching, and Sana doesn’t think much of it because school comes first, and Sana can push her clingy tendencies aside to give Mina the space she needs. But then it escalates.

Mina hasn’t spoken much to her outside of the regular _good morning_ and _goodnight_ texts, and when she _did_ find time to sleep over, she was gone before Sana woke up with an apology written on a note and Sana couldn’t help the wave of dread that shook her body like a tsunami threatening to consume her whole.

They’ve been dating for almost four months now and it’s great, really. Mina fits into Sana’s life like a key in a lock and she’s never felt this connected to someone in her entire life. She thought the feeling was mutual, really, until the past week of strange behaviour. Sana doesn’t need Mina to be with her constantly, doesn’t need around the clock attention or anything like that, but it’s odd of her girlfriend to be so… _distant_. It makes the all-too-familiar fear bubble up in Sana’s chest as she wonders if maybe this beautiful relationship has an expiration date after all; a time limit before Mina gets bored and stops loving Sana just like too many girls before her. It’s hard to think anything else, really, because even Mina’s best friend, Jihyo, is avoiding her, and Sana thought they had become close enough over the past few months to be friends outside of her relationship with Mina.

There’s the scary feeling that maybe Mina has stopped caring about her, maybe Sana has been too much, too fast, as other people have told her, but she tried, really! She hasn’t even said _I love you_ yet, in fear of scaring Mina away. It’s a deep-rooted fear, however, that the world’s love for Sana in on a strict timer, and can never exist in excess because maybe, _maybe,_ Sana is just unlovable. And maybe, _maybe,_ Mina isn’t the end to that curse after all.

It’s a scary feeling, but what’s even more terrifying is that Sana doesn’t know if she’s strong enough to keep Mina in her life as anything less than her girlfriend. It had been easy to forgive and forget with her exes, with people that weren’t Mina, because she never felt like this with them. She had never felt so whole and completed and, if Mina stops loving her, Sana doesn’t think she’ll have the power to move on as anything more than strangers. And that’s the part that terrifies her the most; losing Mina completely.

So, she cries. Cries for almost a whole day and resigns herself to the fact that Mina is probably just figuring out the words she needs to break Sana’s heart gently. And Sana figures she’d rather hurry the process along than be left waiting in a limbo. That’s how she finds herself outside of Momo and Mina’s apartment, red-rimmed eyes and dressed in pajamas. She knocks weakly, half-hoping no one will answer and she can turn around and bury herself in her blankets again, but, of course, the door creaks open and Mina’s confusion is sprinkled across her face like her constellation moles and Sana whimpers.

“Sana?” Mina squeaks, pulling the girl inside quickly when she sees her distressed state. “Are you okay? What happened?” She asks worriedly, expression crumpling into deeper confusion as Sana pulls away from her.

“If you’re going to break up with me, I’d rather you just do it than keep me waiting,” Sana mumbles, watery and weak as she looks at the floor because she knows looking at Mina’s eyes will break her.

  
“ _What?”_ Mina says sharply, moving to stand directly in front of Sana now. “Why would you think that?”

“What else am I supposed to think, Mina?” Sana asks, dejected and tired and heartbroken. “You’ve been avoiding me for over a week now. It’s not hard to put the pieces together. Look, there’s no hard feelings, this stuff happens,” she begins, because it’s always been easier for her to comfort people than to be comforted.

“Sana, stop,” Mina pleads, wrapping a hand around her wrist and her pulling her close. “This is my fault, I’m such an idiot.” She sighs as she lifts her other hand to cup Sana’s cheek and gently coax her face up so the taller group could see the sincerity in her eyes. “I don’t want to break up with you, I never have,” she promises.

“But…” Sana mumbles. “You’ve been avoiding me, and Jihyo too, I didn’t imagine that.”

“You’re right,” Mina says sadly. “But not because of the reason you’re thinking. I’m…” Mina trails off as she tries to find the words. “Sana, the way I feel about you is so overwhelming that I don’t know what to do with all these emotions you stir up inside me. Sometimes I wonder if you’re even real, honestly. I hold your hand whenever I can mostly because you make me feel safe, but also because I’m scared that if I let go, you’ll disappear before my eyes and I’ll realize this was all just a dream. I watch you all the time mostly because you’re so interesting, but also because I want to remember the way you laugh and the way your eyes crinkle when you smile, because there’s this desperate feeling in my chest telling me that you’re too perfect for me and that nothing this good can exist forever and _I need it to exist forever_. I just—” Mina huffs, takes a step closer. Sana’s tears are dripping into the floor as she listens to Mina speak with so much passion. Passion for _her_ , for the unlovable Minatozaki Sana. “You deserve to be given the world on a silver platter and I’m still trying to figure out how to do that. So, I decided to write you a stupid song instead. Jihyo’s helping me, and that’s why we’ve been distant. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Mina’s chest is heaving with the exertion of speaking so powerfully and honestly and the world stops spinning for a second as two hopeless girls look love in the eyes without a barrier between them. Sana shuffles forward until the tips of their toes are touching, until she can almost feel Mina’s eyelashes fluttering against her own. She whispers, “I love you,” and then they’re kissing and falling and Mina laughs the type of laugh that makes Sana’s heart squeeze into itself uncomfortably because she has so much love and can’t pour it into their kiss fast enough.

“I love you, too,” Mina says, promises, and Sana feels her knees go weak at the admission. “I love you,” kiss, “I love you,” kiss, “I _love you_ , Sana.”

And they could stay like that for eternity; two girls kissing in tears of joy for a love that will last forever.

[…]

When Sana stops talking, Mina looks up at her with watery eyes and a ghost of a smile that makes Sana’s heart constrict in the most wonderful way possible,

“I planned how I was going to confess to you for week,” Mina admits. “Just to ruin it because I made you sad.”

“You didn’t ruin it,” Sana promises. “I thought it was perfect.”

“I wanted it to be some grand gesture, like the ones you’re so good at. I wanted to prove that I could do something from a movie for you too.” Mina’s tone is wistful as she reminisces the past and Sana pulls her impossibly closer.

“You showed me something greater, I think.” Mina hums, asking her to expand and Sana lets a small smile overtake her features. “Before you, I thought the right way, the _only_ way, to love, was to be loud and unashamed. I’m still like that, I think, but you showed me that there’s more than one love language. I didn’t need a grand gesture to feel how much you loved me, because it was always there, in the little things.” She catches Mina looking at her with something like awe in her eyes and leans down to kiss her nose, cold and reddened by the wind.

“Speaking of grand gestures,” she continues, rounding in front of Mina and effectively stopping her girlfriend in her tracks. “There’s one more thing, and then we can head home,” Sana promises, and Mina nods, watching her with the same curious gaze that Sana has seen since the very first day. “I’ve talked a lot today, but please bear with me for just a little longer?”

“Of course, baby,” Mina murmurs, slightly dazed when Sana leans forward to kiss her once more.

“Okay, well, as you know, I’m in love with you.” She basks in the delighted giggle that Mina lets out at that. “I was trying to think about when exactly I knew I loved you, and I figured it could’ve started from the day we met, when I drunkenly called you constellation-girl after barging in on you playing _Minecraft_ ,” they both chuckle. “Maybe I should’ve known when I let you talk about Dr. Strange for an hour straight while pretending to agree with everything you said, when I actually had no idea who that was.”

“Oh my _god_ , I remember that!” Mina laughs, squeals when Sana pokes her side in retaliation.

“My point is,” Sana redirects, smile never fading, “I’ve been in love with you for a very long time. And I used to be worried that your love for me would fade as the days went on, that I wouldn’t be enough, eventually, and you would need someone more, or maybe someone _less_.” The corners of her mouth lift as Mina rubs circles into her hand with concern etched into her features. Her heart is beating too fast and too hard, trying and trying to escape the confines of her chest and flee to its true owner, to Mina. “But you didn’t—you _don’t_ —I know that now, and I know that what we have is forever, Mitang. You love me when I’m overactive and can’t stop talking, and you love me when I make you lose in your video games because I keep trying to get your attention, and you love me when I beg you to go out on your only day off because I can’t sit still, and you love me when anybody else in their right mind would run away from me. You love me despite everything, and I know that you’re the only person in the world for me. Because I love everything about you, from your morning grumpiness, to your horrible cooking skills, to your little introverted tendencies. I love the way your eyes catch on fire when you talk about something you care about, I love the way you make me feel like I mean something, not just to you, but to the world. I love all the little things you do to make me feel loved and warm and to make sure I don’t forget that it’s you and me forever. I love you from your head to your toes, and I will love you until I take my last breath. So…” She trails off, reaching into her coat pocket and lowering herself to the ground.

“Sana…” Mina whispers. Sana wants to reach up and hold her cheeks to warm them up, wants to kiss her nose and cover her ears and wrap her in warmth, and she figures she can, for the rest of the life, actually.

“Myoui Mina, will you marry me?”

When Mina says _yes_ , in a voice so high and airy, so thinned with excitement that Sana almost doesn’t recognize it, a flash of overwhelming adoration bursts through her body and there’s no stopping her from surging up and connecting their lips in a kiss that seals their fate.

Of all the stories that Mina and Sana have accumulated over their years side by side, she knows, in this moment, that this will be the one she’ll want to tell for the rest of her life.

**Author's Note:**

> this was.... supposed to be a short one shot about the difference in sana and mina's love language but i produced 12k words of fluff... are we surprised? anyway, i hope you enjoyed and let me know what you think! sorry in advance for any mistakes


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